


Explosion

by hannie3000



Series: Whumptober 2019 [1]
Category: Dream Festival! (Anime)
Genre: Also Sci-Fi I guess, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Space, Character Death, Gen, Implied Relationship, Lost Limb, Lost your limb and your love, M/M, Tentacle Monsters in SPACE, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-21 03:09:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21067805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannie3000/pseuds/hannie3000
Summary: The mission briefing listed it as a C-class mission: routine, low-threat. Go in, get the cargo, and get out. Simple. A perfect starter to leadership.





	Explosion

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at writing anything prompt-based. Had the idea for a space/sci-fi AU for a while but haven't written anything for it. Whumptober seems like a good excuse. I hope you like it.

_Approaching destination. ETA five minutes._

Junya nudges his friend's arm. "That's your cue." 

The sudden prod snaps Yuto out of his thoughts. "Huh?" 

"We just got the five minutes call. Go do your thing, _boss_." 

"Shut up, I've got this." 

Junya chuckles. Yuto ignores it and stands up. "Alright team, we just got the five minutes call, so that means check your gear and make sure everything's attached properly. It's a simple pick-up mission, but for safety regulations, always keep an eye on your assigned partner. If something goes wrong, you stick together and go back to the carrier. Got it?" 

The squad members nod in understanding. 

"Good. Now go get ready." 

As everyone goes to check their gear, Junya gives Yuto a friendly slap on the back. "Good job, you almost looked professional there."

"Shut up, Sasaki."

"No, no, that was a compliment."

Yuto frowns. Junya just keeps grinning at him. 

"Did you do your gear check yet?"

"Yes, sir."

"Why do you insist on mocking me?"

"Because it's funny."

Yuto groans. "Whatever." He tugs on Junya's gear in several places to double-check that it's secured properly.

Junya huffs and pouts at him. "Honestly, I know how to put on my gear at this point." 

"I'm just making sure you don't accidentally get your head exploded because you put on something backwards."

"Yeah, that would suck..."

_Destination reached. Prepare for drop-off. _

Saved by the announcement. Yuto activates his helmet to hide the slight flush in his cheeks. 

"Map data has been uploaded to your navigation systems. Cargo is in the leftmost storage room in the back. Let's get this done." 

"Yes, sir!" The others reply in unison. 

* * *

"So what exactly are we picking up?" Junya asks.

Yuto shrugs. "Don't know. Also don't really care. Not my job to ask questions." 

"But what if it's..body parts? Or drugs? Or....carved soap?"

"Carved soap, really?"

"Oh that's the one you focus on?"

Yuto sighs. "Look, our mission is to retrieve the cargo in this facility. Whatever's inside it is not for us to know." 

"So you'll just blindly follow orders even if it could be something shady?"

"I trust Command."

"Since when?"

"Can we drop this and just focus on the mission?"

Junya rolls his eyes, though Yuto can't see it because of the helmet. "Sure thing, boss."

* * *

Several aspects of this mission don't make sense to Junya. Firstly, the hush-hush about the contents of the cargo they're supposed to retrieve. It stinks of shady business. Secondly, why is the air regulation system not working in here? Is it broken? Who broke it? Why isn't it fixed? 

"Wait." Yuto says suddenly. He holds up his arm to gesture at the squad to stop. 

"What's up?" Junya asks quietly.

"Look." 

Yuto points at what appear to be drag marks on the floor. Why are there drag marks on the floor..?

Junya shudders. He's starting to like this place less and less. 

"Let's keep moving, but be on alert. Keep your eyes peeled for anything suspicious."

It's obvious the rest of the squad is feeling anxious about the situation as well, but everyone keeps on moving as they're told.

* * *

"Sir, I'm detecting life signs in the room on our right." 

Yuto turns to the squad member that spoke. "Life signs? Are you sure?"

"Positive. Here, see?" 

Yuto takes the scanner from him and frowns when he sees the lifeform notification. This facility is supposed to be abandoned. They were sent here to retrieve cargo that was left behind. No mention of anyone still being here.

"Sasaki, get to the storage room with the others and secure the cargo."

"What?"

"I will investigate the scan and join up with you later." 

"You can't go by yourself!"

"I'll be fine. Secure the cargo." 

"Yu--sir!"

"That's an order." 

Yuto can feel Junya's glare, but he's made up his mind. Something dangerous could be inside that room and he'd rather risk his own life than his men's lives. Junya's life.

Reluctantly, Junya does as he's told and leads the rest of the squad down to the storage room. They're about to turn the corner when he looks over his shoulder to see Yuto enter the possible danger room. If whatever's inside there doesn't kill Yuto; he will. Stupid stubborn jerk. 

* * *

The automatic door slides shut behind him when Yuto steps inside the room. The lights are still on in the facility, but for some reason, this room is dark. 

"Anyone in here?" he calls out. 

No response.

"I'm squad captain Yuto Kuroishi of the Galactic Alliance. If there is anyone in here, please identify yourself." 

Still no answer. Perhaps the scanner was just malfunctioning? 

Yuto is about to leave the room when he hears a shuffling noise in the back. 

"Hello?" He steps forward, shining his helmet light in the direction of the noise. 

The light catches something behind some knocked over furniture and he walks closer to investigate, but suddenly the something jumps up and hisses at him; revealing several rows of large, sharp teeth. Yuto stumbles backwards in shock and trips over something on the floor and lands on his ass. The creature lunges forward to attack him with what seem to be very large tentacles, but he shoots it with his blaster. It lets out a distorted scream and flees up the wall and onto the ceiling; escaping into the air vent. 

Yuto still isn't sure what he saw, but he knows it's dangerous. He whips out his own scanner to track the creature and sees that it's moving fast...towards Junya and the others. 

"Dangerous, unidentified lifeform loose inside the facility! Abort mission and return to the carrier!"

Yuto tries to warn his squad, but he doesn't hear any confirmation coming through.

"Abort mission! I repeat: abort mission!!"

He spits out several profanities as he rushes out of the room and hopes he's not already too late.

* * *

The storage room is empty, save for half a dozen boxes stacked up in the middle of the room. Odd. 

"I guess that's our cargo..." Junya says. Something about this mission felt off as soon as they stepped inside this facility, and this only feeds his suspicions. Justifiable reason to do a quick contents check, right?

"Sasaki, what are you doing?" A squad member asks.

"What, like you don't want to know what the hell we're gonna be transporting?" Junya replies and waves him off. "It's just a quick peek." 

"We're not supposed to look inside..!"

"You're also not supposed to look at Zadraxian porn during work hours, but that never stopped you." 

"That was one time..!!"

"And I didn't tell on you, did I? So just take this as the return favor, yeah?" 

Junya chuckles to himself about successfully shutting the guy down and then slides open the lid on one of the boxes. His self-satisfied grin quickly turns to horror as he looks at the contents: Kalar crystals. Just these boxes alone hold several hundred of them. Seemingly harmless, but they are very, very dangerous when activated. Highly explosive. Whatever the Galactic Alliance wants with these, it can't be good.

_"Da...ous...ife...inside...ity....ort...mission...return...arrier..."_

"Yuto?" 

_"...abort mission!" _

"Abort mission? What's going on? Yuto?!" 

Junya tries to return the communication, but all he hears is static. 

Then someone screams behind him. He turns around and sees Zadraxian porn guy pointing up at the ceiling. "What is that thing?!" 

"I don't know," Junya replies, sounding surprisingly calm, "but I do know that we should get the hell out of here." 

"The door won't open!" Another squad member shouts. "The control panel won't respond either!" 

"So we're trapped in here with that monster?!" A third member cries.

"Try to hardwire the control panel to open the door!" Junya shouts back. "I'll keep this thing busy!" 

"Are you insane?!" 

"Just do it!!" 

Junya flails his arms wildly and shouts at the monster. "Hey, ugly! Over here!" 

The creature screeches and crawls on the ceiling towards Junya. The distraction seems to be working. It swings its tentacles at him, but Junya manages to dodge the attacks.

"Is that all you got?!"

It screeches again and then drops down, giving Junya a very clear view of all the very sharp looking teeth. Junya is starting to feel the pressure. "How's that door coming?" he calls out anxiously.

"A little bit more time!" 

Junya swallows. "Great. No problem. I can do a little bit more time. Probably." 

The creature swipes at him again. Junya avoids the very large tentacle coming at him, but he doesn't see the second one coming from the other side and it slams him into the wall. The remaining squad members are ready to shoot at it, but Junya yells at them to hold their fire. One wrong shot could kill them all if it hit any of the boxes. 

"The control panel is working, but the door won't open all the way! I need some help!"

Junya is struggling, but he needs to buy more time for the others to get that door open. 

* * *

"Sasaki!!"

Yuto's voice comes from the other side of the door. He's still alive. Thank goodness.

"Sasaki, get your ass over here! I can't keep this door open for much longer!"

The rest of the squad made it through, so now it's just Yuto fighting the door's desperate need to close. 

Junya makes a sprint for the door; the monstrous creature following close behind. Just as he's about to slip through the door, a tentacle grabs his ankle and pulls him back. 

"No!!" Yuto yells and grabs Junya's arm. He tries to pull him back, but he doesn't have the strength for this tug of war while also trying to keep the door open. 

"Hey, Yuto," Junya says, "do you want to know what's in the boxes?" 

"What? No, why would I--"

"Kalar crystals." 

By the time Yuto figures it out, it's already too late. Junya has his blaster pointed at the stack of boxes.

"Junya, don't--!!"

"We had a good run." 

Junya flashes Yuto a smile, then lets the creature drag him away. Yuto screams Junya's name but it doesn't reach him. The blaster shot hits the boxes and a second later they explode in a fiery burst. 

Yuto barely gets away from the door in time. He sees Junya and the monster disappear in the ball of fire, and then the shockwave hits the door and shatters the glass that was supposed to be unbreakable. Yuto holds up his arms to protect his head from the flying debris. A large shard of glass impales his right arm and the pain is excruciating...but it still doesn't hurt as much as watching Junya die. 

* * *

Yuto wakes up several days later in the sick bay on the main ship. His right arm is gone. 

Junya is gone. 


End file.
